Once We Were Knee-Deep in Chocolate with Bill Roe | Episode 28

Once We Were Spacemen

Nathan Fillion & Alan Tudyk

Arts, Tv & Film, Comedy Interviews, Comedy, Performing Arts

4.9 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2026

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Bill Roe was eleven years old when he rode a trolley to Bavaria Studios, waved to the guard, and went to work scooping foam out of the chocolate river on the set of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Five decades later, he's the Supervising Director on The Rookie, and Nathan and Alan finally have a microphone in front of him. As it turns out, the man who was present for some of the most iconic moments in American film and television has never once sat down for an interview. Some lucky bastard is going to be the first to ask him all about his incredible career. Alan and Nathan are those bastards. Follow Once We Were Spacemen wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to extended episodes a whole week early by joining our Patreon. Once We Were Spacemen is a Collision33 production.

Transcript

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0:00.0	What age were you when this photo was taken?
0:02.7	I think 12.
0:04.4	The reason you were in this river is because they didn't want foam showing up on camera.
0:12.1	He goes, Bill, please illuminate.
0:13.8	What was the project that you were working on?
0:16.0	Well, it was a movie called Willie Wonka in the Chocolate Factory.
0:23.6	Once we were Spaceman.
0:30.7	I tend to play weird people, usually aliens and robots and things that don't have romance.
0:43.3	I once didn't get a job where they were looking for a Nathan Philean type. Once we were space men.
0:46.3	Once we were spacemen.
0:48.3	Alan, would you do the honors to get us rolling?
0:51.3	Oh, God!
0:52.3	Yes! Ladies and gentlemen, welcome again to another episode of Once we were Spaceman!
0:59.3	Because one time we were Spaceman, space, the final frontier, and during the frontier times,
1:07.7	people went without, they ate their horses. They ate one another with Alan Tudok and
1:15.7	Nathan Philean. I tuned out for a second there and by came back, we were eating horses. How did that?
1:21.6	Well, smallpox obviously came about. I didn't really hit on that too hard, but we got to eat something.
1:29.5	Now, any listener out there may not know Bill Rowe, but...
1:34.1	I know Bill Rowe. He does the thing with all the odd jobs.
1:37.4	That's Mike Rowe.
1:38.7	Ah.
1:39.9	Yeah, yeah. That's not, no relation.
	...

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